Villa Diodati

Genève, Cologny · Switzerland · House

Villa Diodati — Genève, Cologny · Switzerland · House

Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva hosted the 1816 ghost-story challenge that inspired Frankenstein and helped give rise to the modern literary vampire.

In the summer of 1816, five young people spent time together beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland, reading ghost stories and attempting to write their own. The English poet Lord Byron was staying at Villa Diodati with his travelling physician, John Polidori. Their companions included Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who were Byron's neighbours rather than guests in the villa, and Claire Clairmont. What began as a literary challenge would eventually produce Frankenstein and the idea for the modern vampire.

The Year Without a Summer

The reason for that unusual summer lay thousands of miles away. In April 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia had erupted with extraordinary force, sending vast quantities of sulphur into the atmosphere. Temperatures fell the following year, and Europe, among other places, saw more rain.

Mary Shelley later described the summer near Geneva as wet and unpleasant, with rain frequently keeping the group indoors for days at a time. During their gatherings at Villa Diodati, they read stories from Fantasmagoriana, a French collection published in 1812 containing ghost stories translated from German.

At one of these gatherings, Byron suggested that each of them should write a ghost story.

17 June 1816

John Polidori was only 20 years old and employed as Byron's travelling physician. On 17 June, he recorded in his diary that everyone except himself had begun writing their ghost stories. Mary Shelley was 18.

In her 1831 introduction to Frankenstein, Mary recalled being asked every morning whether she had thought of a story. Each morning she had to answer no, until one night, while lying awake, she experienced a vivid image of a pale student kneeling beside a creature he had assembled.

She described the experience as a waking dream, not an ordinary dream during sleep. She began writing that same day, and in the 1831 edition those first words open Chapter Five of Frankenstein, in which the creature comes to life.

Byron's Vampire

Byron also began a story involving a mysterious traveller and a journey from England. He never completed it, but the surviving fragment, dated 17 June 1816, was published in 1819.

Polidori later developed Byron's plot into his own story, The Vampyre. According to the editor of his diary, he wrote it only after leaving Byron in September 1816. When it appeared in print in 1819, it was incorrectly attributed to Byron, who denied having written it.

The Vampyre is often regarded as one of the earliest modern vampire stories.

Visiting Villa Diodati

Villa Diodati stands in Cologny on Lake Geneva, just outside Geneva. Byron and Polidori stayed here during the famous summer of 1816, while Mary and Percy Shelley lived nearby and visited the house for the group's gatherings.

Today, Villa Diodati is a private residence and is not open to visitors. The building can only be viewed from outside, with respect for the privacy of its residents.

Its importance lies in the summer of 1816, when Frankenstein's creature and the idea for the modern vampire began to take shape.

Other sources about this place

FAQ

Where is Villa Diodati located?

Villa Diodati is in Genève, Cologny, Switzerland.

More haunted places in Genève, Cologny

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Robertgrassi · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons